They Saw They Conquered
Head Saw Doctor Leo Moran shoots the breeze on 20 years of Rock'N'Roll madness
Olaf Tyaransen, 02 Nov 2010
Would you have felt the same way if you went to Dublin for the weekend? Being from Tuam, would you have felt out of your depth?
“Well, we never feel out of our depth, but there can be a kind of superiority complex with people who think their culture is more relevant or above some other culture. It’s kind of borderline racism, really. I mean, I love Damien Dempsey, he’s one of my favourite men in the world, and he sings in a brilliant accent. And I love him singing in that accent. And I bet you there’s people in Dublin who think Damien Dempsey is brilliant for singing in that accent, and we’re a shower of hicks for singing in our accent. But that’s their problem, it’s not ours. It doesn’t bother me. The main thing for us is that enough people like us.”
The Docs certainly have an audience. It’s largely comprised of a diehard following amongst the blue-collar Irish diaspora that has sustained them throughout the last two decades or so.
“We play around 100 gigs a year,” he explains. “It’s a great life. We’ve been paying ourselves a weekly industrial wage from it since about 1990, which is quite an achievement as far as we’re concerned. It’s keeping a few lads off the dole anyways! Our limit, really, is about three weeks at a time. There’s people who don’t want to go for longer than that. That’s the way it has been for us. Though we have done six weeks, and I loved it. There was never a tour that was too long for me, but I’d say other people found it difficult. Six weeks is a good old trip, like.”
Touring aside, they enjoyed some homeland chart success again after a long period in the wilderness when their cheeky cover of Sugababes’ ‘About You Now’ went to No. 1 eighteen months ago.
“We have a great audience in Ireland now. We have a very young audience in Ireland. It’s because of all the college gigs, and the appearances at Oxegen, and festivals around the country, and the Rockbox in Killarney. But we still find it hard to get on the radio. We had a No. 1 hit single, and the next song, ‘She Loves Me’ was No. 2, and neither of them made the pop playlists on the pop stations.
Page 2/5 <Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next>
©Hot Press 2012. Why be a member? | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | About Us Jobs @ Hot Press